Competitive camp for quarterbacks

Ask anybody around the Western Mustangs football camp and they’ll tell you the job of starting quarterback is wide open.

In fact, they go out of their way to tell you the job is wide open.

The eventual successor to pivot Will Finch will have a big arm to follow. Finch broke multiple Ontario university passing records. Unfortunately, he finished almost every season somewhat broken himself.

Injuries eventually forced him out of the game and with a year of eligibility remaining, it probably came a year earlier than anyone expected.

That led to a scramble to find a successor with the experience and arm strength to lead a talented Mustang team to a title.

The Mustangs would have been happy with a transition guy; somebody that could fill in for a year or two while they recruited a young guy to develop.

What they got was Chris Merchant, a top Canadian recruit who left the University of Buffalo. He has four years eligibility. He has a big arm. Will he pan out? Only regular season play will determine that.

The expectation is that he will be the man but given how often Mustangs backup Stevenson Bone has been asked to step into almost impossible situations, everyone wants to make sure he has a chance to be the No. 1 guy.

In fact, Mustangs coach Greg Marshall said if Bone and Merchant compete evenly during training camp, he’ll play them both in the regular season.

“I expect it’s going to be a really good competition,” Marshall said. “It’s hard because what we evaluate in practice sometimes doesn’t translate to what’s going to happen in games. In fairness to our quarterbacks, as long as they are competitive in the same practice, we need to see them both play games.”

Even Mustang players are singing the same tune.

Receiver Jamal Kett played with Bone with the Mustangs and knows Merchant. They went to the same high school and even though it was at different times Kett and Merchant would get together to practice.

“He’s a great kid,” Kett said of Merchant. “It’s going to be a great battle at quarterback and whatever happens, we’re going to be in great shape.”

One of the reasons Merchant left Buffalo was because he wasn’t sure how much playing time he was going to get, even though he had a strong spring camp.

But he too doesn’t believe anything is going to be given to him.

“I’m just here to compete,” he said. “Obviously I go into every practice like I’m the starter. That’s my mindset. But I just want to help the team win in whatever way I can.

“I just look at it as a new opportunity. From what I understand, the position is wide open. If I make the plays and get picked the starter, that’s great.”

Merchant has been in London since June learning the playbook and working with receivers.

He said he’s “pretty much there” when it comes to learning systems and plays.

“A lot of stuff, the reads, I needed to brush up on and get used to the Canadian game again, some of he coverages” Merchant said. “But I don’t think it will take me more than a few practices so I should be ready to go. I’ve played it for a long time except for the last two years. I just need to find that spot in my brain and get back into it.”

Marshall said he was “very impressed” with Merchant but followed that up immediately with how good his quarterbacks have looked, including three youngsters who saw no playing time last year.

“Stevenson is a half-second faster getting rid of the ball because he knows what’s going to happen; he’s used to it,” Marshall said. “I was impressed with how well Stevenson threw the ball.”

Marshall then went on to mention Kevin John, Ben Bergamin and Connor Wicklum, quarterback recruits from last year.

“Last year they were freshmen. They’re not freshmen anymore. They looked pretty good out there,” Marshall said. “They came at a time when no quarterback wanted to come here because Will was here. We’ve got kids who are looking to next year depending what happens here. I mean Chris might scare them off. He still has four years.

“But we’ve have more depth at quarterback than we’ve had in a long time.”

Marshall saved the last words for Bone.

“In fairness to Stevenson, he got thrown into the fire the last two times,” Marshall said. “We were fortunate. No one recruited Stevenson. He came here because his dad (Jamie Bone) came here. He didn’t even start on his (high school) team. You know what he did do? He developed into a pretty good quarterback. He worked hard and we were fortunate because that’s all we had and he did a good job.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.